‘Thanks to Zoom, I’ve met a woman who could be “the one”’
In the first two weeks of lockdown, I scanned 1,000 faces and had five video dates and was just considering giving up when I connected with Candice on Hinge, says author Ben Arogundade.
A 44-yearold art director and painter, she was divorced, with a five-year-old son. She had narrow eyes, a thin mouth and pronounced cheekbones.
“Those cheekbones look sharper than a scalpel,” I said to her as my opening line. “Thanks,” she replied. “I’m making extra cash during lockdown – as a bread slicer.”
Apart from her wit, what attracted me to her profile was that she was smiling in her photos, had no semi-nude images and talked about art. On the video date, she’d done her hair and make-up, and wore an amazing vintage dress with silver chainmail epaulets that glistened.
In the background, she had a mixture of paintings, wild plants and big art books. I was mesmerised.
As we signed off, we were both smiling. I wondered if we had a hope of forging a real offline connection. Was this simply to be a pandemic version of a holiday romance – that starts and finishes online? Is there a danger that what happens in corona stays in corona?
When the lockdown rules changed, we met up for two hours of “walk-n-talk” in Hyde Park. It took all my willpower not to hug her.
“When this is over, things are going to get seriously physical,” I said. She smiled and said: “I am really looking forward to that.”
Have I met a new partner? I hope so. For us, video dating and physical isolation have made me value human interaction more than ever. Zoom is part of our modern romance.
‘My Terrifying, Shocking, Humiliating, Amazing Adventures in Online Dating’ by Ben Arogundade (White Label, £9.99) is out now